Fastener



Sept. 18 1923.

E. S. JOHNSON ET AL FASTENER Filed Oct. 4, 1922 asaas e is, was.

eeann mummies raranrorrics.

manner s. JOHNSON nun nnro v. onnnsomor ianoorcroiv, MASSACHUSETTS, AS-

l sieivons .TO GEN R L rnsrn vna COMPANY, or

f ooaronnrioivor MAssAonUsErrs.

BROGKTON, MIASSACHUSETTS, A

FASTENER.

'7 Application filed. October 4, 1922 Serial No. 592,412. r

To all wkom it may concern. V

Be it known that we, ERNEST S. OHNSON and E1110 CARLsoN, citizens of the United States, and, residents of Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented an improvement in 'Fasteners, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. Our present invention consists in a novel and improved method of interchangeable fasteners, as well as an improved fastening apparatus. p

[Broadly considered, our invention consists in the provision of devices which willen able different sets of colored, designed or series of buttons, studs," ornaments for apparellor the like to be utilized on the same fastening members; p the provision of fastening members, suitable for application. to a suit, shirt waist, or other apparel, having permanently secured thereto a portion of the fastener members and having provision for-detachably secur:

' ing theretothefinished portions consisting j fering in color, if desired, difi'eringin design 111 varying sets of the finished buttons, difand material suitable for matchingwith other garments. V Ourinvention can be applied, for example, to a, ladys. shirtwaist,

' wherein the fastener elements are secured to each side of the. garment and with a removable set Of'blue buttons, red buttons, or other ornamental :and useful designs, thus enabling any one of a series of such sets to be used on the fasteners, in accordance withthe choice or wish ioflt'he wearer, and therebysenable' the garment havingthe fastener to, be, fitted withdorn'amental f finished buttons,, which in appearance will-match.

with any other desired garment. 1 AlsoIthis interchangeability of diff'erent sets of finished portions,'.for the buttons and" fasteners, will enable the: wearer jto changethesame garment for matching with :the. different colored garments by a suitable shifting: of the interchangeably finished buttons,

Thus, we contemplate A further feature of our present invention relates to the fastener devices having capability for uniting a plurality of layers in the same planeand by 'means of interrelating fastener devices. Thus we contemplate the utilization of a fastener member which will be permanently secured to one layer, a cooperating fastener member permanently secured, if desired, to a second layer, and

.7 means to unite afthird layer thereto, and

soon to an indefinite plurality if desired, and all on the same cooperating fasteners. Thus for example it is frequently desirable, particularly in wearing apparel, to have garments with a plurality of overlapping portions, and our invention contemplates the uniting of all said plurality of overlapping portions, three or four, on the same line of fasteners and in the same position, whereas heretofore only two layers could be united at the same point and with the same fasten ers, a plurality'of fasteners at spaced points being necessary to unite three or more such layers. l/Vhile our invention contemplates the utilizationof the features-above briefly outlined, and particularlywith relation to apparel, ,garments,-ladies shirtwaists, suits, etc., it will be appreciated that the invention is not so limited but has a large field of usefulness in connection with other .arts, fastening automobile tops, waterproofcasings, coverings and the like.

gether at the same point and based on the. same fastener elements, is distinctly newandiwe wishto claim the same broadly.v V7 e are also advised that the arrangement of interchan eabilityfor series or sets of differ-,

ent colored buttons, in combination with "a fastener? element or elements, is distinctly new,and we wish broadlyi ;While.we may i to {claim feature we prefer to employ the fastener illustra ted v utilize any suitabletype of fasteners incarrying outcour sa d inventions,

"novel features'and is of special usefulness and adaptability to the interchangeable button feature as well as to that of uniting a plurality of pairs of layers. This fastener comprises a socket member suitable for 7 V permanent attachment to onelayer, an intermediate member suitable to be snapped into the socket member and also capable of beingattached to .a second layer with a portionnadaptedito be united with a third .fas-

tenerelement. This latter element may be one of theseries of interchangeable buttons,

if desired, and may be of s'ufiicient'size to; "overlap andhold a third lay er or may itself be attached to a third layer, a I 7 Referring to the accompanying drawings,

' wherein we have illustrated twoiorms of i fastener and-interchangeable finished'button member,

Figs. 1,2, and 3' are cross-sectional'views respectively ofgone form of fastener having the interchangeable finished button, the in termediate fastening element, and the first "Fig; 8 is a horizontal cross-sectionalview fastener member respectively; igs. 4,5, and 6 are respectively a finished button, intermediate member, and base t'astener of a'second formin cross-section; r

- Fig. 7 illustrates, also in'crosssection, the

F gs. i, 5, and 6 set of fastener elements of united "in position; r

v on the line 88 of Fig.6;

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the finished orcolored button portion which may-be of celluloid or any other suitable or desirable material; V

Fig. 10 illustrating the method of uniting the'finished button portion of Fig. 9 to the to omost fastener element. l

referring to the fastener illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and'S, the outer, upper or finished button member is'illustrated at Fig; 1. and is'designated generally at 1. This button comprises an inner flanged shell 2'in circular form, with a central socket portion 3- V struck up therein, having a pair ofgrooves orreces'ses d," 4, cut injtheshank-part to receive the end'portions 6, 6,- of ,a spring 10, the latter having. its main part housed as: above, described, is the,finished feleinent preferably infthej fOlmiqQf' a 'conca'yc; 1- b fiiiib l fiM S face y su a 1 orfdesirablefmaterial and finish, 'c o lo'r..or design: "This element 12 maybe of metal,

silver, bronze," pearl' or other jewelry and suitably engraved, embossed. or" finished, or may be and preferably is of celluloid or the like material, being colored in such shades and of such appearance ,as will be suitable forthe'use to which it is applied. By having a series or set of difi'erent colored elements 12 for the buttons, the manufactured our fasteners with a plurality of sets of colored bu tons for in erchangeable a a hmen readily and economically". accum nli l fid.

his e ement fli sy-be applied .iaa l yd V sired manner, but"we prefer tojfseeure the same firmly tothe button portion, for this purpose utilizingai ring -15 (seeF-ig. 10) 7 and turning -in'the edge portions '16 and 17 of this ringnpon the margina-Ledge'of the i '2 element 12 and of the'shell-or jbody niern her 2 as clearly shown in FF igs. 1 and10.

The combined button and fastener thus described can be utilized either as -an-' 1nterchangeableiinished memberro'r our invenk tion,and for this, purpose'may be attached to and detached jfroni as well as replaced and renewed, with other colored or finishedbuttons, independently of-any attachment to cloth or a layer of material.- Or it "may be utilized to simply"-button over and .se-

cure byover-lappinga third layer. or

may itself be attached-i-f clesired: For the la ter purpose we provide aplurality'pf perforations l8, 18,, 18, 18, for suclrbeing here 'shownfthrough which {the buttonfma'y i be secured by sewing, clamping (irr the'like to a layer of materia Togc'ooperate with the button as described, we provide an intermediate tener member consisting in the plate'or-body portion 20 and stud'21, the latter of'suitable' form, length and size to fit within the socket 8 and "having a neck 22 arranged to snap by and thereafter be securedby the end portions 6, f the ispring 101 This second fastener element 20 is also provided ,7

with a plurality of perforations 23, 23,, to

be sewed, stitched or otherwise secured to a layer of cloth; *In-orderto make :this;

member also a cooperatingdetachable :fas-

tenor element, weprovidejapair ofrecesses 24, througli one portion .of' the neck 22, .and fitwithin the body portion 201;; spring 25, having its end portions 26,26,

corresponding with. the end portions '6, 6, of the spring J.O?,already described; This spring is *retai'ned fwithin the member 20 by its normal eXpansibi-lity and the turning over of the edgepfortion27 Ztlius afi0r'ding nnarginal recess therefor, To cooperate with ,"th'ef intermediate faStenerjQO justjdescribed V gr-Q1 7 I a third fastener element 30is arranged h intermediate ends 216 "in the. same manner as tha already described lferforations 33, through iiast s Qffl1 .n tkjporti n,i or 2 sgarrai sed tw ets" y hespian I a this fastener element 30 also enable it to be secured to a layer of cloth or other material.

The cooperating fastening members "thus described comprise means to unite two or more layers of cloth together, such for ex-;

ample, as the meeting edges of a ladys suit, shirtwaist, or the like, and in addition to this fastening feature, enable a third layer to be securedby the button 1 as well as enabling a series or sets of such buttons 1 to be interchangeably secured at will to the.

garment having the fastener elements and 'permanently attached to the margin portions. This construction is illustrative only of our invention of means to provide an instant interchangeability of the finished portions ofjfastener elements audit will be appreciated that we may utilize any type,

' style or method of fastening instrumentalber 41, being the same asth'e top member without the finished button portion 12 and the retaining ring 15. The intermediate fasitie s, it being possible to carry out our invention in a large number and variety of devices.

"As shown 1n Fig. 7, we have illustrated a modlfied form of fastener, wherein a plurality of socket members similar to the fas tener portion of the button. member, as illustrated and described in Figs. 1 and 6, is employed. In this form we utilize the button portion consisting in the shell orbody part 2, socket portion and spring for both the bottom or base fastener deviceand for the top or button carrying arrangement.

In this modification it will be noted that both the top portion and the bottom portion, i. e., the fastener devices with the bot tom arranged in inverted position, present two cooperating socket members, the same l'ieing illustrated at Figs. 4c and 6. Therefore we provide an intermediate member as shown in Fig. .5, with a plurality of stud portions adapted to cooperate with the two socket members 3 in inverted position. As illustrated in Fig. 7 we have designated the topmost. fastener portion by the reference character 1, thisbeing identical with'the top 1 button already described in the previouslset of fasteners, and the bottom fastener memtener membenas shown in Fig. 5,-and as illustrated in fastening position in Fig: 7,

, consists in a .plate44, having thereon a projecting stud 15 and narrow neck 46 to coop- V erate withthe spring end portions 6, 6, this plate a l: having a curved flange 47 adapted 'to engage the rim'49; of a duplicate plate 'member 50 having :thereon a stud-51 and neck 52 identical in arrangement, size and construction withthestud 45. 'This intermediate fastener member is adapted to unite the two button portions detachably together,

- as shown in Fig. 7. We also provide perforations 55, through the plates .44 and '50,

to enable this intermediate member to be being attached to a third layer or simply retaining the same in position by its overlapping extent. Thus in a coat, acket, shirtwaist or the like, if the edge portion 57 of one layer has secured thereon one of our fasteners, and the second meeting edge 56 has secured to it a second layer, these two can be attached together in the manner of a usual snap fastener, but with the provision of adding one of the set of buttons constituting a desired finish therefor of any suitable color as may be fancied by the wearer. Also a third layer 60 may be retained. In the form of fasteners shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a greater plurality can be utilized, it being within the scope of our invention to join a considerable number of layers of material at the same point and by the same fastening devices in combination with the detachable, interchangeable and finished button, or not. In the first series, i. e., as shown in Figs. 1,2, and 3, the bottommost layer of material would be attached to the fastener portion 30 and the second layer to the upper 20, the finished button being then applied if only these two layers were desired. as in the meeting edges of a coat, jacket, shirtwaist or the like.

It will be appreciated that our invention of the detachable, renewable and interchangeable sets or series greatly simplifies the process of shifting or changing buttons or ornaments, the same base and intermediate fastener being at all times united if desired to the garment or material to-be fastened and the ornamental part only being interchanged. Furthermore the arrangement as herein shown of securing the orna' mental portion 12 by the ring 15 gives a capacity for a still further interchangeability, such rings being readily removed and a different ornamental member 12 being secured if desired. I

Our invention is further described and defined inthe form of claims as follows:

1. An attachable and detachable fastener comprising a member, a projecting. head arranged on one face thereof, a second'meinber provided with a socket arranged on one face mediate thefirst and second inen'ibers,and a combined p1016t111g head and socket member arranged on one face thereof, the pro jecting head ofthe first member adapted to fit within the socket of the third member thereof, a, third -member. arranged inter- 2. An attachable and detachable fastener comprising a member, a projecting head arranged on one face thereof, a second member provided with a socket arranged on one 

